Left Behind
by chicadoodle
Summary: When Harry Kim is found, alone and unconscious on an uninhabited planet, he is given sanctuary on the Battlestar Gallactica. As Voyager searches for their missing crewman, they discover a temporal rift - and realize that perhaps Ensign Kim has been missing for a bit longer than the few days they have spent searching for him ... Rating subject to change.
1. Another Mouth to Feed

A/N : A note about timelines. This story takes place in the seventh season of Star Trek: Voyager, and the final season fo Battlestar: Galactica, after Starbuck's return but before the Final Five were discovered by the rest of the fleet. Tyrol, Tigh and the others are currently still in hiding amongst the rest of the Fleet.

/

Chapter One : Another Mouth to Feed

When they first found the young man, Commander William Adama wasn't sure what to make of him. Unconscious and alone on a planet far outside known inhabited regions, he wore colors and a uniform unlike anything the Colonial Fleet had ever come into contact with before.

The only reasonable explanation was that he was a Cylon agent, yet his injuries contested that fact. Upon his revival he had been confused, disoriented, talking about an entire ship of humans from an unknown region of space. Starfleet. The Federation. Voyager. These words, spoken by the young man, had only elicited confusion in both Adama and President Laura Roslin.

That had been months ago. In the first few days after he had been released by Doc Cottle he had been kept under constant guard, confined to the brig. As the days passed by and the young man continued to profess his innocence - and even ignorance of the Cylons - both Adama and Roslin had been forced to admit that perhaps the young man really was what he claimed to be.

An alien, startlingly similar to their own people, but from another, unexplored region of space.

So he was integrated into the general population, given star charts in the hopes of finding his home. Of finding the Federation Starship Voyager.

One of the first things that had become immediately obvious was the advanced state of this young mans knowledge. He had quickly proven his worth working on the Vipers that were in constant need of repair, as well as any number of Galactica's systems that had grown fragile and finicky with age. His usefulness came not from an intuitive understanding of Engineering, but from what Adama could only imagine was extensive training. Few educated people had made it out of the Twelve Colonies alive, and he was thankful for whatever knowledge Kim could provide.

He was not, however, thankful for yet another mouth to feed.

/

It was surprisingly easy to integrate Harry Kim into the general population, President Laura Roslin reflected with a small smile. There were enough survivors scattered across several ships that Kim had been accepted onto the Galactica without too much fuss. It wasn't exactly common practice to transfer from one ship to another these days, but then nothing was really "common practice" anymore.

Settling herself down onto her bed with a small sigh, Laura stared across the room with a small frown as she considered the young man whose origins were still a mystery to all of them. He didn't speak often of his home, and for that Laura had been grateful from the onset; learning that he was not, in fact, even of the same species as the rest of the survivors of the Twelve Colonies would have induced nothing short of a mass panic. It had required her to look long and deep at her own beliefs in order to incorporate this new truth; that they were not alone out here, that there were others. Still, her curiosity had been piqued - who were his people, and more importantly, where were they? He had been left to his death on that planet - if they had not come along, Laura had little doubt that he would have eventually succumbed to either the harsh conditions of the planet or a lack of food. And he had proven himself to be a valuable member of the crew - and a surprisingly small drain on their resources.

Unless one counted their supply of alcohol. Normally, she stayed out of such matters; between her own illness and her duty to the people that remained, Laura generally stayed out of the personal affairs of both the crew and civilians. Harry Kim, however, had garnered her interested from the first moment they had met. It was hard not to notice the young mans increasing reliance on both alcochol and other substances as time went on. New Caprica had hit him just as hard as everybody else, though perhaps for other reasons.

New Caprica had been a hard lesson for all of them to learn. They were not safe; they would never be safe. Not as long as the Cylons continued to exist. They would always find them. But for Kim, it had been the first time he had been forced to face the true evil that existed under the humanoid facade that the Cylons presented. Until that point, he had only heard the stories - she had seen it in his eyes every time another tale of destruction was relayed in his presence. He had never truly believed the Cylons could be as evil, as without mercy or humanity as they were made out to be.

Then he had spent an undetermined amount of time in their company. He never spoke of that time, and Laura couldn't blame him. What she did know, was that he had faced torture at their hands. They had been searching for something - what, she didn't know. Had they learned of his extra terrestrial origins? Did they want to know what made him tick, what made him different from those who had created them? Or had he simply been the unlucky one to face their wrath that day? Whatever their reasons, either they had not been shared with Harry Kim, or he had decided not to share them with his rescuers. Laura wasn't sure which would be worse.


	2. Hope & Despair

Chapter 2 : Hope and Despair

One of the first things that Harry Kim had noticed when he had been released into the general population of the Battlestar Gallactica was the distinct lack of non-humanoid life. For the first day or two he had not been overly concerned, but as time went on and they had continued to travel with no contact with other life forms, he had become both curious and concerned.

He knew something was wrong, of course. Especially now. Two years he had been with these people, and in all that time he had discovered no sign of non-human life anywhere. They were not a stationary ship; they moved almost constantly, always under the threat of attack. The sheer number of times they had Jumped to another unknown region of space made it a statistical impossibility that they would not have made contact with other life forms.

Yet they hadnt. He had witnessed that first hand.

There were a number of explanations, though he lacked the proper equipment or knowledge to either confirm or deny his suspicions. The two that stuck out the most, however, were time and dimensional travel. Out of the two, time travel seemed the most likely, though the sheer magnitude of that idea had taken some time to wrap his mind around. If his suspicions were correct, it would mean that he had travelled tens of thousands of years into the past - perhaps even more. To a time when sentient life had not evolved beyond small pockets such as the Twelve Colonies. Would these people even exist in his own time?

This idea was central to his emotinal state as of late. If his suspicions were correct, there was little chance he would ever see Voyager or her crew again.

That was a hard pill to swallow.

/

Harry Kim very nearly growled in frustration and he stared down at the Viper below him. He had been attempting for some time to fix the damage Starbuck had done to her ship on their last run-in with the Cylons, but so far he had had little luck. Several of the other techs had already given up hope on it, and were ready to pick it apart for scraps. He was beginning to think they were right.

There had been a lull in the Cylon attacks as of late, allowing for some much-needed repairs. That was the only reason he had been allowed to work on this little project of his, Harry knew.

Things were different here, than they had been on Voyager. All the little things he had come to take for granted were gone. All the little comforts. And he, who had never imagined for himself a life as an engineer, had found himself put to work repairing ships he knew little to nothing about.

His Starfleet training had ensured that he had a working knowledge of such things, it was true; a good Starfleet officer understood a little bit about every part of life on a starship, after all. But what, to him, was a rudimentary understanding seemed to be an amazing understanding as far as these people were concerned.

He couldn't think of them as his own people, no matter how hard he tried. Without a better understanding of medicine, he couldn't with any accuracy say whether they were the same species, or radically different on a cellular level. What he could say, however, was that these people needed his help. And as a Starfleet Officer, he could do nothing else. Even if he hadn't been forced into their company with no visible means of returning to Voyager, he still would have felt compelled to help them; his morals, his standard of ethics instilled in him not only at Starfleet Academy but also by his parents from a very young age, wouldn't have allowed him to do anything else.

But these people didn't hold those same values. That had been apparent early on.

Pushing himself away from the Viper, Harry very nearly growled in frustration. Any number of competent engineers could have finished the job by now, he knew. If only he had access to the scanning capabilities of Voyager ...

If only he had access to any number of Voyager's systems. Like the replicator. He would kill for a replicator right about now ...

/

It had been nearly two weeks since Ensign Harry Kim had first gone missing during an away team scouting of an uninhabited planet. Neelix had been certain it would hold any number of plants valued both for their medicinal and nutritional value. No threats in the area, no life signs on the planet. None of the away team had run into any trouble.

But Kim was just gone.

For those first several days they had searched tirelessly, convinced that something was blocking Voyager from picking up his signal. After nearly three days, however, they had begun scanning for something - anything - else to explain his disappearance.

And B'lanna had found it.

A temporal rift, one of the most extreme cases Starfleet had ever encountered. According to their calculations, it the other end of the rift should have deposited Kim several thousand years into the past. It was constantly fluctuating, though it's entry and exit points seemed stable. Work had already begun to create a more stable link, but so far all messages sent through the rift had received no answer. It was, of course, possible that Kim was simply out of range of the transmission, though somehow Captain Janeway doubted that he would miss it no matter his position on the planet.

"Toress to Janeway."

"Janeway here." Captain Janeway set her cup of coffee to the side, glancing out the viewport with a frown.

"Captain, we've found something you should take a look at."

"On my way."

/

Harry sighed as he scrubbed a hand across his face. These hours to himself were the worst; he found himself down at the bar more and more often these days. The drinks they served might not have been the best, but they certainly held more liquor to them than anything he could have gotten back on Earth.

He had never been a heavy drinker; he supposed that Tom could drink him under the table, if it ever came down to it. They had never tried, though. And besides, that might not even be true anymore; he had certainly developed a taste - and a tolerance - for this particular brand of alcohol.

Not to mention the card games. Harry threw his hand down on the table, a grin forming across his lips as the other people at the table - Starbuck, Apollo, and a handful of other pilots - gave nearly harmonious groans of frustration. In the back of his mind he could hear Tuvok's voice, droning on about Starfleet regulations and how his current behavior wasn't fitting for an Officer.

But it had been months since he had seen Tuvok. Or Captain Janeway. Voyager was a memory, growing more and more distant. He could have holed himself up in his quarters, sparse as they were. Perhaps he should have. It would have been more fitting for a Starfleet Officer, than the drinking and gambling he was currently involved in.

But it had been two years. And, quite honestly, he had given up hope. Voyager wasn't coming to save him, and he was never going to go home.

/

"We were running scans of the area surrounding the rift, on the other side. It would seem that our earlier calculations were off, Captain." Torres called up the information on the viewscreen, the area surrounding the rift displayed. "We have found no signs of sentient life anywhere in the surrounding systems."

That caught Captain Janeway's attention. "No life at all?" The systems surrounding the planet where they had found the rift were teeming with life - they might have made good trading partners, if they had been just a tad bit more advanced. As it stood, however, Starfleet regulations stood in the way of trading with these people for even the most basic of items.

"When we reworked our calculations, it became apparent that the other end of this rift exists in a time before life had evolved on these planets. I can't give you an exact date, but what I can tell you, is that the rift is stable. In addition, there seems to be a bit of a temporal flux. Time is moving at a slightly accelerated state on the other side."

B'elanna Torres turned, pad held tightly in her hand. "Captain, I propose we take Voyager through the rift. We found traces of an energy signature; a ship traversed through this section of space recently. It stands to reason that is why we can't find any traces of Harry; he must have been picked up by this ship."

Captain Janeway glanced at her first officer, and Chakotay merely nodded. He agreed with the assessment, no matter how uneasy the prospect made him feel. But the rift was stable, and he saw no other alternatives.

"Mr Tuvok?" Captain Janeway glanced at her security officer - and long time friend, silently hoping that he would come up with some otherwise unmentioned alternative to such a risky proposition.

"I agree with Torres' assessment, Captain, though I must caution against any elongated contact with these aliens. We must not interfere with their timeline in any way." It went unsaid that the repercussions could be catastrophic, but the Captain heard him loud and clear. Even the smallest of alterations could have far-reaching affects; Starfleet regulations were crystal clear in that regard.

"Very well. Begin preparations to enter the Rift."


	3. Giving Up, or Giving In?

A/N : I have been on vacation for the past week - Spring Break - abehave been doing a great deal of writing on my IPAD as a result. Thus, I apologize for any styling ear grammatical errors; I still haven't managed to find myself a beta reader. Enjoy!

Giving In, or Giving Up?

Harry stared at the Viper before him with some trepidation. It had been one thing to fix them up, repair the damage done by their frequent run ins with the Cylons. But the thought of actually getting in the pilot seat ...

He wasn't a pilot. That was Starbuck, and until recently Apollo. Tom Paris. A small smile touched dais lips at the thought of his old friend, but it quickly disappeared at the sound of approaching footsteps.

That was what they wanted him to be; Tom, Apollo, Starbuck. A pilot. Putting his life on the line, throwing himself into the line of fire.

He wasn't a coward. Starfleet had taught him bravery, had taught him that there were some things worth laying your life down for. These people, this ship; there was no doubt in Harry's mind that they were worth his life. Still, there was something holding him back.

He wasn't a pilot. He had never been a pilot, never wanted it. The thrill of the chase - that had always been Tom's department. Not his. Perhaps that was what was holding him back most of all; the fact that this was just another step away from the man he had been, the Starfleet officer he had been. Another step closer to accepting that THIS was his life now. A crewman on the Battlestar Galactica, not an ensign aboard a Federation vessel.

"So, what do you think?" Harry turned at the sound of the voice, smiling at Starbuck. The blonde was watching him with a small smile, already in her flight suit and carrying a nearly identicle suit in her arms. Harry gave a small laugh at the sight of the extra suit, causing Starbuck's smile to turn into a smirk.

"You've aced all of your tests so far, Kim." She admonished, though there was no real heat behind it. "What's holding you back?"

He couldn't tell her; not really. Very few knew that he wasn't from the Twelve Colonies, and so could not understand his reticience toward the idea of truly joining the crew of the Galactica. So he simply shrugged, turning his eyes back to the Viper for a moment before reaching for the suit in Starbuck's arms.

She was right; he HAD done well in training. Their group was small enough, only a handful of recruits seeking to become pilots. He had only joined at the insistence of Apollo; they were losing more pilots than they cared to admit, and without new recruits they would never be able to hold back the Cylons. Hell, they barely managed it now.

He couldn't keep living in the past; he knew that. He needed ... SOMETHING. Something more than the daily routine of fixing viper after viper. The work was familiar - he had been forced into such work on Voyager enough in the past. But a pilot? Never. Starfleet short-range vessels didn't count - not really. They were too advanced in comparison, too much automated. Not like these vessels.

It was time to stop living in the past.

/

It was a strange experience, sitting in the pilot seat as he watched the flurry of activity in the docking bay. Just yesterday he would have been down there, getting the Vipers ready for takeoff. Instead, he found himself pressing on the throttle as his turn came up, shooting out into space.

He had thought he was prepared for the acceleration, but it still shocked him as he found himself out in the deep vastness of space, turning his Viper until he could view the Battlestar Galactica.

"Contact!"

Harry swore under his breath as he turned the Viper, unable to believe that his luck could be quite THIS bad. But there was little doubt that the ship moving in their direction was a Cylon raider.

"Kim, cover me." Starbuck had moved alongside him, and Harry glanced at her though the Viper's transparent top, nodding once for her to see before maneuvering his Viper and readying himself for a far more intense ride than he had been expecting when he had taken the pilot suit from Starbuck barely an hour previously.

/

Starbuck dropped down from her Viper with a grin, turning to watch as Harry maneuvered his Viper to a safe landing nearby. "Not bad." Which, coming from Starbuck, was about as close to a compliment as one was ever likely to get.

They hadn't lost anybody up there, and for that Harry was thankful. It seemed as though they were losing more and more people lately, but perhaps the losses were simply finally beginning to catch with him.

It was so different from Voyager. Harry scowled as he caught himself once again comparing Voyager to the Galactica, turning away from Starbuck before she saw his sudden anger at himself - and probably jumped to the wrong conclusion.

His first trip out had gone well, all things considered. And he had learned something importantA; it wasn't in his bloods. His reactions were good enough, and his instincts served him well out there. But there was no rush, no thrill, that he had heard the other pilots talk about.

He wasn't a pilot at heart ... But he didn't need to be. He just needed to survive.


	4. The Past, Awakened

A/N It's been a while, and for that I apologize. Hopefully those of you who complained about my use of the past tense will be pleased to see that I have continued to remain more the present tense with the last few chapters. It was important, however, to establish what had happened in the past - something that will continue to be important to understand the changes in Harry and why he is reacting - and acting - the way he is. I hope you enjoy, and as always, please feed the author! Reviews made me full all warm inside!

/

Harry watched as one of Gaius Baltar's many 'groupies' made their way down the hallway. It was only when they had moved out of sight that he turned away himself, continuing om his own way.

Unlike many of the other crew members and civilians on board the Galactica, Harry held no anger at Gaius Baltar's for veering from the officially accepted religion. Harry himself had been raised in a secular culture, where they had managed to evolve past the need for religious explanations.

But Gaius was guilty of more than just religious maneuverings. Was he using those women and their devotion of him? Possibly. But he HAD caused untold destruction back on New Caprica. Had he been forced into it by the Cylons? Yes, Harry has no doubt of that. But he had chosen his own life over the lives of how many?

Harry shook his head as he turned into his quarters, smiling at this sight of Apollo sitting at one of the long tables stretched out between the walls of bunks. The other man had a stack of papers in front of him and was looking particularly frustrated.

Looking up at the former ensign's entranced, Apollo gave a slight grimace before returning to his work. Harry said nothing, merely moving to his locker and retrieving a battered book from inside before gently closing the equally battered locker.

He had never gotten to know Apollo. Oh, the two men had talked from time to time, but there had never been a chance to find out if any kind of friendship was possible. To be perfectly honest, there hadn't been much time for anything when he had first come on board. Tapping his book against his other hand, Harry gave an internal shrug and swung himself up into his bunk.

He had been reading more and more of the religious texts and prophecies that were such an integral part of these people's lives. Not from any kind of a wish or need to truly convert, but from a need to understand these people that he very well might end up dying for. But the more he read, the more confused he became.

He had known there had to be some connection to his home; these people were too similar to the humans of the Alpha Quadrant. Even if they weren't from Earth, there had to be a connection; Voyager hadn't encountered a species this similar to humans since being flung out into the deep regions of space.

But he hadn't expected these similarities. Hadn't expected to find Earth, itself, within their religious texts.

Much of what he had read made little sense to the former Starfleet officer, but Harry was convinced that he would understand given enough time and resources. So he read; every night before he went to bed, he forced hid self to read something, even if it was only a handful of sentences. To those around him, he seemed only to be just as religious as the rest of them. He was thankful for that assumption, for he had seen how they reacted to Gaius and his deviation from the norm.

Mentions of Earth and the lost 13th tribe baffled him. They made little sense, particularly given what he knew of Earths history and the amount of time that must have elapsed since the writing of this pages. Yet these people believed in these words wholeheartedly. Such unwavering belief was dangerous, made even more so when there existed those who could shatter those beliefs at a moments notice.

Individuals like himself.

/

Apollo watched Harry Kim from the corner of his eye, no longer even attempting to read the reports in front of him. The other man had a,ways intrigued him. There was nothing exactly wrong about him, and he seemed to have earned the trust of both his father, Commander Adama and that of President Laura Roslin. But still, so,etching had always seemed ... OFF about him to the former pilot.

But not dangerous. To the contrary, Harry Kim was the quiet sort. At times you could almost forget that he was there, he was so quiet. It was only recently that he had begiun interacting with the crew more. Since New Caprica, actually. But then, a lot of things had changed since New Caprica.

Harry Kim could be dangerous; he had proven that back on the failed colony. He had the ability, the training. He had also proven a willingness to Kay his life on the line if need be. And for that, he had earned Lee Adama's -Apollo's -respect.

Rubbing a hand across his face, Lee leaned back in his seat. Harry Kim had earned his respect and trust in the last two years that they had known each other, but the former pilot couldn't help but wish that he knew a bit more about the young man. He was far too closed mouthed about his past. He was obviously highly trained, but where?

Most other people were easier to pin down. They were proud, still, of their origins, their homes. They kept to their pre-defined roles, separating themselves much as they had back on the Twelve Colonies. But not Harry Kim; no, he moved from role to another, one ethnic group to another with seeming ease, and Lee could not pin him to one with any certainty.

He was an anomaly. And lately, that was a dangerous thing to be.

/

Harry, of course, was aware of none of this.. Though he would never fit in completely with these people, he nonetheless believed that he was safe; that he had earned the trust of enough people to protect him from the questions that still lingered in the back of some people's minds.

And to be fair to the former ensign, he was mostly correct. It was only the truly observant who still harbored questions and doubts in regard to him. But those individuals were, sadly, some of the most dangerous. Buy he had earned himself the relative safety of those same people being unwilling to move against him without just cause; something that was not always guaranteed in this age of suspicion and distrust.

So as Harry returned to work the next morning, it was with a feeling of relative safety, at least as far as his fellow shipmates were concerned. He would never feel truly safe again; not as long as the Cylons still existed. But at least he could feel safe among the crew of the Galactica.

He would lay his life down for these people, and he could only hope they knew that.

/

The debris had proved to be their saving grace. Several small ships had provided little in the way of useful information, but they HAD provided the crew of Voyager with a signal to follow. The unique energy signature tied to these ships had allowed for the beginning of scans to be made.

That signal had led them here. Kathryn Janeway considered the small grouping of ships with both hope and trepidation. Their initial opening hails had gone unanswered, but they're scans had been most revealing.

Human. Every single one of the life signs on board those ships was human.

Kathryn had seen many things since she had first been flung into the deep regions of the Delta Quadrant, but this was a first. Former Borg drones who had regained their humanity? Yes, those she had come across. Humans who had been abducting centuries before and placed into cryogenic sleep? Sure. Sounded plausible enough. But an entire race, an entire culture who had evolved completely separate, but also identically to her own? That was a bit harder for her to accept.

Still, nothing could be learned until the lines of communication were opened up.

"Captain, they're releasing small ships." Kathryn lifted herself from her seat, watching the view screen as smaller vessels began pouring out of the largest of the ships arrayed out before them.

Well, that was one way of responding.

"Shields."

/

When the call had gone out that contact had been made, Harry had been expecting to find a Cylon ship as their target.

Not Voyager.

The sight of the federation vessel very nearly took his breath away. It was just like he remembered it, and with nary a scratch on its hull. Perfect. Clean.

And labelled the enemy.

Harry cursed under his breath, pulling his Viper off sharply. "Fall back!" Confusion erupted at the command - and since when did he give commands, anyway? - but that didn't stop Harry from swinging his Viper around so he was facing Starbuck, nose to nose.

"Kim, what the frak do you think you're doing?!"

/

"Captain, something's happening." The ensign who had taken Harry Kim's place spoke from behind her, and Kathryn turned to regard the young woman expectantly.

"One of the smaller ships has turned on the others." The ensign elaborated.

"On screen." Kathryn turned back to the view screen, watching the scene unfolding before them. Whoever was in that ship was causing a great bit of confusion.

"They appear to be communicating via radio wave, Captain, but the signal is unprotected."

"Let's hear it."

"...-eat, stand down, Starbuck." The sound of Ensign Kim's voice coming out of an enemy ship shocked Kathryn, but not enough to give her pause.

"Open a channel on the same frequency." She waited only until she had received confirmation before once again turning toward the view screen. "This is Captain Kathryn Janeway of the starship Voyager. Our intentions are not hostile."

There was silence on the other end for a moment, before Ensign Kim once again spoke. "Captain, it's good to hear your voice." Kathryn smiled slightly at that, though she couldn't quite manage a full smile. Either these people had trusted Kim far more quickly than was likely ... Or the time dilation was far more extreme than she had been led to believe.

"This is Commander Adama of the Colonial Fleet. State your intentions." The gruff voice that came over the transmission appeared older, though it was hard to tell from just an audio transmission.

The smaller ships began breaking formation, all of them moving back toward the large ship they had original ally poured out of, and Kathryn was surprised to find that that Ensign Kim had followed suit. No request to beamed on board, nor to be allowed into the ship via one of the docking bays.

She didn't like this.

Frowning, Kathryn forced herself to answer the Commander's question calmly, allowing none of the tension she was feeling to come out in her voice; though her First Officer was able to see it clearly in the set of her shoulders and the rigid way she now held herself.

"We mean you no ill will, Commander. We are peaceful explorers, seeking to expand our knowledge of cultures and regions of space outside our own. However, at the moment I am more interested in the safe return of Ensign Kim."

/

Harry drew a deep breath at Captain Janeway's words. He hadn't dared to hope that Voyager might still be looking for him; too much time had passed, and that hope had long ago been left behind with other childish, unrealistic things.

But here he was, being proven wrong.

Harry stepped down from his Viper, breaking his contact with Voyager for the moment and silencing the voices of both Janeway and Adama. Starbuck had already stepped down from her Viper, and was advancing on him; Harry fought the urge to draw a nervous breath, instead he met the other pilot halfway, meeting her eyes calmly.

Starbuck, however, was anything but calm. "What the FRAK kind of stunt do you think you're pulling?"

There were several ways that Harry could have taken that, but he chose to keep his thoughts to himself. Instead, he ran his hands through his hair, holding it back away from his forehead for a moment as he released a pent up sigh. At his silence, however, Starbuck only seemed to get even more riled up. "Well?"

"Stopping a catastrophe, that's what." Harry snapped,too tired and too on edge to care that he was talking back to a superior officer.

Hell, everybody on this ship was a superior officer- or so it seemed at times like this.

"Excuse me?" Starbuck had never been one with a good grasp of her temper; the term "loose cannon" had practically been created for her. Harry was aware he was skating on thin ice, but he couldn't bring himself to care. He was just TOO TIRED.

"Kim, Adama wants you up at the CDC." Thank God for small favors. Harry very nearly sighed in relief as the nameless young man approached what was close to becoming a violent confrontation between himself and Starbuck. Nodding once, the former Ensign spared once glance at Starbuck - the word irate didn't even begin to describe the woman - before turning to sprint toward the CDC.

/

Commander Adama had always known that there was a possibility of Harry Kim being reunited with his people. Had always known there was the possibility of help out there somewhere. The more time that had passed, however, the easier that was to forget.

But not anymore.

As Kim stepped into the Command Center, Adama forced himself to really LOOK at the younger man for perhaps the first time in months. He was worn and tired, but then again they all were. Dirty, too. But that was nothing new. And once again, Adama was forced to admit that he could find no differences between the young man and his own people. To an outsider, Kim WAS human; as human as him, as human as Saul or anybody else on board.

Except that he wasn't. He wasn't from the Twelve Colonies, wasn't a Cylon or a Human. He was something else entirely. And as much as that intrigued Adama, it also frightened him.

"You asked to see me, Commander?" There were times like these when Adama was reminded that Kim had been military once - or at least as close as his people had to a military. He was also a scientist, however - something that had been immediately clear after speaking to him for only a handful of minutes.

"Your Captain will be ... beaming? ... here any moment. I thought you should be here to welcome her." Adama watched the younger man for his reaction, noting the happiness that faded quickly into trepidation.

Harry simply nodded. He was surprised at the flash of trepidation, and wished suddenly that he hadn't indulged in those drinks earlier. He could still feel them swimming through his system - and he had no doubt that Tuvok would pick up on it immediately even if Captain Janeway didn't.

All of this just seemed so surreal, that for a moment he was tempted to pinch himself just to make certain that he wasn't really dreaming. The thought of this all being a dream wasn't as frightening as he had thought it would be ... and that was worrying.

The sound of a teleporter surprised him more than it should have, and Harry turned toward the sound with a lump in his throat.


End file.
